Green cleaning service: a management approach by industrial ecology

Abstract

Based on the “UPC Sustainable Plan 2015” the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) is developing different actions related to the improvement of the university community from a sustainability perspective. One of these activities is the introduction of the Industrial Ecology (IE) discipline into its educational program. Taking advantage of that, the purpose of this paper is to check whether IE framework is applicable and viable to improve sustainability at UPC. IE concept is focused on an integrated and systemic view by taking into account the interactions between the different involved stakeholders; as well as the way they manage the whole process from “cradle to cradle” . That means an analysis which goes from the extraction of the raw materials till the reintegration of the final wastes, closing the loop. In order to reach the goal of this research, the principles of IE will be applied to one of the services offered by the university, such as the cleaning service. This one is a good exemplary case of study due to different stakeholders involved and to environmental impact produced in each step of this process. This study is focused on the analysis of the management process by using some of IE tools. Furthermore, the study will be taking into consideration IE´s strategy which is to substitute toxic substances by others less hazardous while dematerialize and decrease waste, by reducing the usage of resources such as water, energy and cleaning products. Once the process has been analyzed, it will be verified whether IE has been applying the proper frameworks which reduce the environmental impacts and, at the same time, produce a positive impact on daily good practices to the university, community and society.